Could Madison Bumgarner Restart With An Old Friend?
Madison Bumgarner Finds Himself Seeking a New Start With Lesser Stuff
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Can You Teach a Mad Bum New Tricks?
By Scott Flinchum
When the news of Madison Bumgarner being designated for assignment by the Arizona Diamondbacks broke, a flood of hot takes came rushing down the pipeline. There were pieces being written about why he was the right or wrong fit for (enter team name here). Or, how he would be snatched up instantly by a struggling mid-market team. There were long retrospectives on his career, and even a few articles mourning the loss of a by-gone era of the 200-plus inning workhorse—personified by “Mad Bum” and his former Giants teammate Tim “The Freak” Lincecum.
So, how did one of the game’s most dominant postseason pitchers fall so far so fast?
Hard to Work With
One of the “revelations” that circulated shortly after the news broke of Bumgarner’s DFA, was a narrative that he was “unwilling to make adjustments.”
D-Backs Executive Vice President and GM Mike Hazen, didn’t make any elusions to this being the issue during the press conference where he announced Bumgarner’s DFA. The stance he seemed to take was one based purely on performance and a desire for more “urgency” in the clubhouse.
Is Mad Bum Averse to Change
There was an article published by MLB for this year’s spring training a few months back that seems to contradict the narrative of Bumgarner being averse to change.
In the closing paragraph of the article, Bumgarner plainly states that he’s, “…just trying to get ready (for the 2023 season),” and that, “…You guys (the media) know that the last couple of years—pretty much my entire time here—hasn’t been what I wanted it to be. But I’m not focused on that. I’m focused on this year and the years to come.”
That doesn’t sound like someone who is unwilling to make adjustments to his approach. But, Mad Bum does have a history of being viewed as an antagonistic figure.
Checkered Past
There is a long list of examples showcasing Mad Bum’s “old school” mindset. So much so, that there are several articles and videos actually ranking every time he has engaged in one of these outbursts.
With that in mind, what if the ERA of 5.06 in 350.2 innings he compiled while a D-Back can be traced back to that? Are his raw emotional displays an insidious form of pitch tipping that big league batters are somehow exploiting?
Pitching Emotions
In the article, Pitching Emotions: The Interpersonal Effects of Emotions in Professional Baseball, a study was conducted to investigate how a pitcher’s facial expressions influenced an observer’s assessment of the pitches they threw and the likelihood of a batter swinging or not swinging at a pitch based on that information. For example, if a pitcher was said to appear angry, that future pitch was predicted to be one with higher velocity and greater accuracy.
The most salient point discovered was not that the observers could always predict a pitcher’s future pitches based on their facial expressions (spoiler: they couldn’t). The most intriguing finding was that the observers were capable of a modest ability to determine whether or not a batter was likely to swing at a pitcher who displayed facial expressions associated with happy emotion.
Why does this matter? It matters because, while this study was far from perfect, it’s an opportunity for researchers to rigorously analyze something that the great Yogi Berra recognized decades before, “Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical.”
The question then, as it relates to Bumgarner, is whether or not his raw emotional displays can be controlled.
Are the Rangers and Bochy the Answer
There’s no denying the relationship Bumgarner has with his former manager, Bruce Bochy. By both men’s assessment what they share is something special.
In Bochy’s new landing spot with the Texas Rangers, there’s been an increased push for a progressive approach to player development. With the hiring of Hannah Huesman—Mental Performance Coordinator—the Rangers are hoping to improve the mental game of their players.
Huesman stated that her goal when working with the players was to, “(Equip them with the tools to answer the question) ‘How can I be the best version of myself in the moment…”
The “why” behind this is, as Huesman states, because, “Our mentality affects every single thing that we do.”
Bochy’s predecessor in the dugout, former manager Chris Woodward, echoed Husemann’s sentiments. “…It’s pretty powerful (a player’s mental approach)… It’s a real advance when guys can go out there with that belief and the mentality that we’re looking for…”
Relating this back to Bumgarner’s situation, while there’s no way to ignore his decreasing velocity (his velo for all four of his primary pitches—excluding his slider—are down by one mph or greater) or his dipping spin rate (the spin on his four-seamer sits at 2,041 RPM’s and is ranked as the second least valuable pitch in baseball according to Fangraphs), with the right mental approach maybe there’s a chance he could improve this downward trend.
The Long and Winding Road
The landscape of professional baseball is ever-changing. For a decorated veteran of the game like Bumgarner, a DFA from a team where he signed a high-dollar contract, is a humbling statement about his current state of play.
But, if Mad Bum’s time in The Show, isn’t quite over, then perhaps addressing the man in the mirror is a necessary first step for him to take. There’s nothing to say that if he finds himself in the right clubhouse, supported by the right people (like his old manager Bochy), he can’t play out the back half of his career with a different outlook, reflected by a lighter nickname. Maybe something like Glad Bum?
Scott is a writer based in Virginia. He is interested in telling a wide range of stories. His work can be found at eephus.Substack.com.
Extra Innings
“I didn't know if he had enough left tonight. But I did know that boy would try to steal a steak off the devil's plate.” - Madison Bumgarner's father, Kevin, after his son earned the save in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series.
When Bumgarner hit two home runs on Opening Day 2017, he became just the second player in the Statcast era (to that point) who had ever hit two home runs with an exit velocity of over 112 MPH in the same game (Giancarlo Stanton was the other).
Bumgarner’s 19 career home runs at the plate are the second-most in the divisional era (1969 to present) behind Carlos Zambrano’s 24.
Bumgarner should just accept the inevitable and be put out to pasture. Of course, I could still be bitter over 2014.